Best Triceps Exercises for Women

By Riley Day

Women are hitting the weights these days just as much as the guys are. They’re no longer strapping themselves to cardio equipment for hours on end in hopes of shaving off a dress size or two. The girls know that muscle burns calories and comparing time spent, we’re all better off with a little more muscle! Guys work triceps to build bigger arms and women work triceps to tone up their arms (in most cases). Here’s a few triceps exercises for women that can help tighten up the arms and keep the waddle away!

1. Triceps Push Down
Using a cable machine, the triceps push down is done with an overhand grip. The key to any triceps exercise is to keep the elbows close to the body. The push down emphasizes the outer part of the muscle a bit more than others.[adToAppearHere]

2. Triceps Pull Down
Similar to the push down, the pull down is the same movement. The difference is that you’re using an underhand grip versus an overhand grip. As far as triceps exercises goes, these aren’t as popular for some reason – but they should be. The triceps pull down targets the “inside” of the triceps a bit more which is going to help tighten things up and avoid the fleshy arm waddle when you’re hailing a can or waving at someone! Just as the push down, the pull down can be done with a bar and both hands simultaneously, or isolated for each arm with cable handles.

3. Triceps Dips
Triceps dips are an awesome workout. You need to be a bit more careful with these however because if done improperly or with too much weight you risk straining your neck or shoulders. You can do dips on a bench, weight assisted dip machine or even rings! Freeform triceps exercises are becoming popular with boot camp or boot camp style workouts. They’re definitely not for beginners because they not only require great technique, but superior upper body strength. You can also tear up your hands easily if you’re not using some sort of hand protection.

Triceps dips using a bench are one of my go to triceps exercises for women for the simple fact that you can have an effective workout just using your body weight.[adToAppearHere]

You can even do this exercise at home! Grab two dining room chairs and position them facing each other. Use one to support your feet, and the other to support your hands.

Los Angeles Personal Trainer Riley Daye is part of the GymPaws Workout Gloves Fitness Team. His areas of study include Weight Lifting, Strength Training, Nutrition, Body Building and Sport Specific Training.

~ ~ ~

OPENING PHOTO CREDIT camille games.crossfit.com